Assessing Expectations: Towards a Toolbox for an Ethics of Emerging Technologies

Area of Science:

• Ethics of Technology
• Science and Technology Studies

Background:

• Ethical assessments of emerging technologies are crucial but challenging due to their elusive nature.
• Current approaches often rely on unverified promises and visions of new technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore methods for assessing the quality of expectations surrounding emerging technologies.
• To propose a framework for evaluating the plausibility of technological claims in ethical reflections.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of existing literature on the ethics of emerging technologies.
• Development of criteria for assessing expectations, focusing on feasibility, usability, and desirability.

Main Results:

• Expectations for emerging technologies often present futuristic feasibility and usability claims but conservative desirability statements.
• A critical assessment requires balancing skepticism towards claims with imaginative engagement with future possibilities.

Conclusions:

• Ethicists need tools to critically evaluate claims about emerging technologies.
• A nuanced approach combining skepticism and imagination is essential for improving ethical reflection on technological advancements.